1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to networking. In particular, the field of invention relates to autonomous network device configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network configuration and maintenance has long been a complex process. Indeed, for many small and medium sized businesses, the complexity associated with network administration has resulted in significant costs. As a result, businesses are pushing for simplified network set-up and maintenance.
Current techniques minimize the need for user involvement by automatically configuring network devices. However, proposed techniques are limited because such techniques require Internet connectivity or alternatively require that all new network devices be connected to the same LAN segment. Further, current techniques fail to make use of configuration information on client devices on the network to build configuration defaults on the new network device. As a result, current solutions for simplifying network set-up and maintenance are inadequate.